1.11 How Daddy played with a girl
A bedtime story from 'When Daddy was a little boy' by Alexander Raskin
A story from a dad’s childhood, narrated to his daughter, written in 1961. Read the introduction below.
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HOW DADDY PLAYED WITH A GIRL
When Daddy was little he had a friend whose name was Masha. She was a little girl and they always played very nicely together. They made a beautiful house in the sandpile. They sailed paper boats in a big puddle. They used to go fishing in the puddle too, and always had a grand time even though they never caught anything.
Little Daddy liked to play with Masha very much. She never fought with him, she never threw stones at him and never tripped him up. He would have been very happy if all the boys he knew were like her. But they were quite different. And they teased him, because he played with a girl.
Whenever they'd see him they'd sing: Sasha loves Masha! Sasha loves Masha!
And they'd ask, "When's the wedding?"
They all thought it was terrible for a boy to play with girls.
Little Daddy felt very hurt, he even cried at times.
But little Masha just laughed. She said: "They can tease all they want!"
That's why it was no fun to tease her. And so the boys only teased little Daddy. They didn't pay any attention to Masha at all.
Then one day a big dog ran into the yard. Someone screamed: "It's a mad dog!"
The bravest boys scattered in terror. Little Daddy was frozen to the spot. The dog was very close to him. Then little Masha ran up to Daddy and swung her little shovel at the dog.
"Get out of here!" she shouted.
The mad dog tucked its tail between its legs and ran out of the yard. And then everyone realised that it was not a mad dog at all. It had simply wandered into a strange yard. All dogs know the difference between a strange yard and their own yard, and the most ferocious dog forgets how fierce it is when it's in a strange yard.
When the boys saw that it was not a mad dog, they ran after it with sticks and stones. But you didn't need much courage to do that. Even the dog understood that. As soon as it was out in the street, it turned around and growled. The boys ran back to their own yard and began teasing little Daddy: "Scaredy cat!" they shouted. "You were so scared, you couldn't even run."
But little Daddy said: "I wasn't the only one who was scared. You were all scared, too. Masha was the only one who wasn't."
Then all the boys felt very ashamed. They had nothing to say.
But Masha said: "That's not true. I was scared, too."
And then everyone laughed. And they didn't tease little Daddy any more. And he and Masha remained the best of friends.
THE END
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